Mentor Board of Education - August Meeting

001special education budget hearing meeting is called to order please call the world miss breiner here mr buckley here miss hassan here miss jessling president mr tuttle present please join me in the pledge of republic for allegiance it stands one nation under god indivisible with liberty and justice for all right who has the report thank you madam president uh the purpose of this meeting is a presentation of the fiscal 2021-2022 special education title 1a title 2a title 3 lep title 4a ida b and early childhood preschool budget this is a regulatory step in the process so that we can allocate these budgets in september so moved second please call bro miss reiner yes mr buckley yes miss hassan yes miss jessling yes mr tuttle yes motion passes five 5-0 that concludes my report thank you motion

002to return so moved second please call the roll miss breiner yes mr buckley yes miss hassan yes ms dressling yes mr tuttle yes good evening the august 10 2021 regular meeting of the men are exempted village board of education is called to order this meeting is being held in accordance with sections 3313.15 of the ohio revised code mr wade will you please call the roll miss breiner here mr buckley here miss hassan president mrs justling present mr tuttle president thank you please join me in the pledge of one allegiance under god indivisible with liberty and justice for all i would like to welcome everyone to the august 10 2021 regular meeting of the mentor-exempted village board of education prior to this evening each board member has received for their review and consideration the agenda and

003materials associated with each agenda item for the board's approval via the district's paperless board of education agenda system board docs the public can access the agenda through the school district's website the agenda is available through the district's website for public viewing this sunday prior to the board meeting board members have the opportunity to call the superintendent and chief financial officer for information concerning agenda items and to request if needed additional information there are two places on the agenda where the board entertains comments from the community the first hearing of the public is dedicated to those who wish to address the board on agenda items only the second hearing of the public is dedicated to those who wish to address the board on any subject whether it is an item on the agenda or another issue

004when addressing the board please state your name comments are limited to three minutes please address questions to the president this meeting is being televised on a delayed basis and will be shown on spectrum cable channel 1026 in mentor and channel 1025 in men are on the lake this meeting is also being videotaped and will be shown on our youtube channel cardinal tv mineral ohio please place your mobile telephones on silent mode during the meeting next we'll have approval of minutes for july 13th regular board meeting and july 30th 2021 special board meeting so move second please call the world mr buckley yes mr sun yes miss drizzling yes mr tuttle yes miss breiner yes motion passes 5-0 thank you now hearing of the public on agenda items only next we'll have superintendent's report recommendations mr

005porter thank you good evening madam president members of the board i have the following recommendations listed under the consent agenda and recommend approval of items 581-584 so moved second please call the roll mr buckley yes miss hassan yes miss jizzling yes mr tuttle yes miss breiner yes motion pass is 5-0 thank you madam president members of the board this evening we are pleased to recognize several staff members who are being honored for their commitment to their schools and their students we will begin with our excellence in teaching award winners mr buckley will you please join me at the podium to present the awards and if our uh if our employees our award recipients are here this evening as soon as i call your name if you'd come forward at that time excellence in teaching tatiana

006savetovic first grade sterling morton [Applause] [Music] on a regular basis miss vetovic seeks new and innovative ways to reach her students she engages encourages motivates and celebrates her students daily she eagerly takes on obstacles as a challenge and perseveres for the betterment of her students mrs vetovic does an amazing job with showing her students the power of a growth mindset she had instilled it in them in every part of their daily routines and lessons the students can be heard repeating the growth mindset affirmations they constantly cheer each other on when one of them is challenged and even when they talk themselves through challenging hurdles mr vetovic re sets a high bar for all of her students and then equips them with the confidence to reach their potential congratulations [Applause] next up lori kiss first grade

007hopkins elementary [Applause] mrs kiss is a role model and leader who continually works collaboratively and does not hesitate to step in to help others mrs kiss continually motivates her students making them excited about learning participating and especially reading walking into her classroom at any point in the day is electric and engaging mrs kiss thrives on teaching her students to read and knows how to reach the most struggling reader as well as challenge the exceptional learner mrs kiss has been instrumental in educational shifts especially in reading and she continually strives to learn and perfect her craft for the benefit of her students congratulations [Applause] kim petro nurse at mentor high school [Applause] mrs petro has been a committed professional to not only your health profession but to the mentor schools for over 20 years she has

008proven her professionalism by effectively managing and maintaining the mentor high school clinic for a student body of 2400 mrs petro's work cannot be measured by student accomplishment but rather by student safety including physical emotional and mental health in all of these areas mrs petro excels as an account at an accomplished level she is empathetic and engages in active listening she is a problem solver and works to help others improve their everyday life mrs petro recently retired but has left a positive mark on mentor schools for years to come congratulations [Applause] mackenzie saywell fourth grade ridge elementary [Applause] miss saywell is truly a passionate teacher who demonstrates a zeal and enthusiasm for her profession her passion is contagious and is reflected in her students and colleagues on a daily basis in and out of the classroom

009she graciously assists new teachers daily while guiding them through routines and procedures planning lessons using technology and understanding the curriculum ms saywell is and always has been highly successful in the classroom as demonstrated by student achievement she is strongly aware of addressing the diverse needs of students in her classroom she uses multiple assessments to measure progress and to differentiate her instruction based on students needs her students show interest in school and learning because ms saywell makes learning fun for her students while at the same time holding them to high standards congratulations [Applause] john weingart physical education sterling morton [Applause] mr weingart is passionate about physical education and our students mr weingart is well respected by everyone at sterling morton he is admired by our students for his general kindness in fun creative ways he creates

010an environment where students embrace good sportsmanship and effort as much as competition in his class everyone enjoys themselves and learns the value of staying physically fit regardless of skill level because of the culture he has created every student finds a way to be successful and enjoy himself or herself congratulations [Applause] and last from this category christine weiss intervention specialist memorial middle school [Applause] mrs weiss's room and md unit could be nicknamed the palace of positivity even amidst challenging situations mrs weiss inspires her team to work through things with a smile and continues to provide the best education possible for her for her students she has a gift for working with students with special needs and we are fortunate to be able to witness her passion for her craft on a daily basis mrs weiss is

011always adapting and creating new techniques to find what will make her students successful mrs weiss is always willing to listen to the issue and more importantly help develop a research-based plan in which to help remedy a situation congratulations mrs weiss madam president and members of the board at this time we will be recognizing very important groups for their excellence in team collaboration to be selected for this award the team members must demonstrate enthusiasm for their responsibilities and a strong commitment to the school system the team must also be respected by colleagues parents and students and demonstrate strong collaborative skills the first group is our certified first grade team from hopkins elementary bernadette elon laurie kiss molly miller and kaylee overly if they could come forward please [Applause] the hopkins first great team has an outra

012has an outrageous zeal and enthusiasm for teaching they readily collaborated shared ideas and divided and conquered their planning and implementation of the first grade curriculum online the team helped each other and or learned on their own until they perfected their plan this team always plans together and they push each other to be the best at their craft the first great team closely monitors student data and readily implements interventions they take on the needs of students and immediately provide the needed support every member of the team is a problem solver if individually they don't know the answer they will work together to solve the problem they are always looking to create fun and interactive lessons to engage and excite those students about learning congratulations first great team the second group is our certified second grade team

013from mentor schools online this past year jelena andrews megan d alessandro justine host mandy morgan lisa saint-hilaire and jasmine vinson [Applause] this is a group of teachers who had no experience working with one another until joining together from five different elementary schools to teach second grade mentor schools online they took their second grade curriculum and resources and converted them on digital platforms in addition to creating new innovative and engaging means to teach second graders content second graders content standards in order to meet students needs this team utilize their expertise organization in collaboration to group students from each of the six mso classrooms to maximize their resources and provide differentiated small group guided reading lessons to all students in addition to the creativity they displayed they planned and delivered periodic grade level wide activities aligned to

014the contents content standards they teach these special events were engaging relevant and exciting for students to participate in their passion dedication and motivation to think outside the box in order to provide an innovative educational learning environment for their mso students was noticed by all who observed and interacted with this team congratulations second grade team and our final group from the excellence and team collaboration is our certified school counselor department team from mentor high school that would be cindy gomori annie harem megan howell kathy krazan jim mcmahon mark nemunitis miranda rhodes and caroline searson [Applause] during the 2021 school year to accommodate the changing needs of students and parents as they related to covet 19 protocols the guidance department reworked their procedures for scheduling by providing stakeholders with videos introducing the scheduling process and collaborating with

015staff to use technology efficiently while maintaining the one-on-one assistance that the guidance counselors value their efforts resulted in minimal disruption and the plan allowed parents to take more of a role in conferencing and scheduling for their students the mentor high school guidance team worked collaboratively throughout the 2021 school year to cooperatively solve many unique student needs caused through the remote learning environment during the covet 19 pandemic congratulations to this counseling team [Applause] madam president and members of the board nominations are also collected every year for the outstanding service award to be selected for this award a nominee must demonstrate enthusiasm for his or her responsibilities a commitment to mentor schools and have the respect of their colleagues parents and students the two winners selected this year fit that criteria perfectly it is our privilege to

016first start with aaron kuzmiak classroom assistant sterling morton [Applause] miss kuzmiak continually goes above and beyond in her responsibilities and commitment to the staff students and her and all of her responsibilities she enthusiastically brings creative and innovative ideas to anyone in the building whether these ideas are for the classrooms she works with other classrooms or throughout the building erin continually searches for different ideas to engage the students she works with she often shares many resources with staff with whom she works and even with teachers that she no longer works with ms kuzmiak is always on the lookout for resources that will help any student or teacher and she shares these with with excitement ms kuzmiak has taken the time to learn new ways to solve problems in order to best help the students with whom

017she works she's always looking to learn something new to be the best she can be one more round of applause please for miss kuzmiah and finally bill miller custodian at shore middle school as the head custodian at shore middle mr miller is a highly valuable member of the team the 2021 school year brought on many challenges but no matter the request mr miller followed through with a smile his flexibility and ability to adapt is a key reason why the year was such a success he is an invested member of the school safety committee and is always willing to help students mr miller is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to logistics concerning the building as a whole he is always looking for ways to improve the physical grounds of the building and works closely

018with staff to ensure that vision that the visions align he's a humble leader that is the first to tackle a task and the first to give credit to others uh one more round of applause please for mr miller congratulations to all of these award winners at this time i would like to invite mrs burnett to the podium to recognize our newly designated master teachers good evening madam president members of the board mr porter and mr wade this year we have two new master teachers that have joined our teaching ranks the ohio department of education defines a master educator who demonstrates excellence inside and outside of the classroom through consistent leadership and focused collaboration to maximize student learning a master teacher strives for distinguished teaching and continued professional growth as specified by the ohio standards for

019the teaching profession teachers understand student learning and development and respect the diversity of the students they teach teachers know and understand the content area for which they have instructional responsibility teachers understand and use varied assessments to inform instruction evaluate and ensure student learning teachers plan and deliver effective instruction that it advances the learning of each individual student teachers create learning environments that promote high levels of learning and achievements for all students teachers collaborate and communicate with students parents other educators administrators in the community to support student learning and finally teachers assume responsibility for their own professional growth performance and involvement as an individual and as a member of the learning community please congratulate the following teachers who have received master teacher designation for the 2021 school year i'd like to recognize mckenzie sawel fourth grade

020teacher at ridge elementary congratulations [Music] and our final recipient this evening please congratulate ali reschke health physical education teacher at shore middle school and if we could give the award winners one more round of applause thank you and congratulations again to all of our staff members this evening for uh for their awards all right we're going to take about a seven minute break if there's anyone that would like to head out early you're welcome to stay and join us [Music] hmm thank you we'll get back to our meeting mr porter thank you madam president members of the board i am recommending approval of the resolution adopting a 21-22 calamity day alternative make-up plan so moved second please call the rule mr buckley yes mrs hassan yes miss jizzling yes mr tuttle yes miss breiner yes

021motion bash is 5-0 thank you next i have the following board of education policies on the agenda for a second reading and approval please note there's been a modification to policy 8.09 since the first reading where a sentence has been stricken from the policy i'm recommending approval of all three policies so moved second please call liberal mrsan yes miss gisling yes mr tuttle yes miss breiner yes mr buckley yes motion passes 5-0 thank you madam president and members of the board i am recommending approval of agenda item c1 related certified personnel and c2 through c4 all related to human resource matters moved second please call the roll miss justling yes mr tuttle yes miss breiner yes mr buckley yes mr sun yes motion carries 5-0 thank you this concludes my portion of tonight's agenda thank

022you board of education report and recommendations under business do we have a delegate an alternate to be appointed to the annual business meeting at osda on november 8th i'll volunteer to be the delegate do we have someone that will be the alternate i'll volunteer for that ginny did you want to do that tom i raised my hand and does someone have number two i believe that's mr porter uh it is recommended that the resolution authorizing the revision of compliance officers for calendar year 2021 be approved so moved second please call the girl mr tuttle yes miss breiner yes mr buckley yes mr sun yes miss dressling yes motions past 5-0 it is recommended that the combat agreement for the district copiers and printers be approved that material is included with the board materials so moved

023second please call the rule ms breiner yes mr buckley yes mr sun yes miss dressling yes mr tuttle yes motion carries 5-0 thank you and we have one final item under this section that is to acknowledge the hiring of mr bill wade as our cfo treasurer at the friday july 30th special board meeting after successfully serving as a teacher and administrator for riverside schools bill joined mentor schools in 2011 as principal of mentor high school before being named superintendent of kirtland schools in 2016. he rejoined mentor schools last summer as director of business operations until he transitioned into his cfo role last week mr wade is uniquely qualified for the cfo role with his educational background blended with his business expertise and knowledge of our district's fiscal practices we look forward to the contributions he

024will make to keep mentor schools moving forward mr wade would you like to say a few words i would thank you madam president members of the board mr porter it's with great pleasure and honor i've accepted the role as chief financial officer for mentor schools i want to thank mr avasik for his leadership during the transition as well as mr wilson for his years of service for our district in our community i know i have big shoes to fill but i'm confident my years of administrative experience coupled with my background prepare me to continue to lead our district financially into the future i'm excited to work with our board of education our treasurer's department our staff and our community to ensure that we provide our students with a safe learning environment to help them maximize

025their potential as they continue through their educational experiences all while staying true to our five fiscal management principles again i appreciate your trust in me i look forward to working and serving this community [Applause] thank you and welcome aboard next legislative report mr tuttle thank you mrs breiner updated covet 19 guidance for k-12 schools announced the ohio department of health released updated guidance for k-12 schools regarding covet 19. odh in the ohio department of education expressed the importance of students returning to school in person five days a week but will not issue any mandates in connection to the recommendations however in order from the centers of disease control mandates mandates masks on all public transportation which includes school buses additionally the cdc indicates that vaccinated individuals are not exempt from this mandate that would be

026the school bus the updated guidance stresses the importance of vaccination and mask wearing for those who are unvaccinated additional guidance is provided on the following improving ventilation social distancing hand washing regular cleaning staying home when sick participating in sports and extracurricular activities local school boards can implement broader precautions as they work with their local communities on the return to school dr bruce vanderhoff chief medical officer for ojh provided the following remarks on the return to school while there are no mandate mandates mandates there's no mandates associated with this guidance we believe that the recommendations we are issuing are essential to the health of ohio's youth and the success of the coming school year the safety of ohio's children is paramount and the preventative measures that schools take will help protect ohio students interesting to note

027house bill 370 introduced by rep adam bird to require public schools and chartered non-public schools to create a seizure action plan for each student with a seizure disorder and notify old school employees with direct supervision of the student to require all school employees to annually complete one hour of training on seizure disorders and to require each student to receive age-appropriate instruction and seizure disorders topic continued with house bill 373 by rep catherine ingram of cincinnati to require public schools in chartered non-public schools to create a seizure action plan for each student with a seizure disorder and to notify all school employees with direct supervision of the student to require all school employees to complete epilepsy and seizure disorder training every two years so the difference between the two being one says every year one says

028every two years dues to will come forward later resolution senate bill 209 introduced by senator andrew brenner to prohibit after the 2021 school year the state board of education ode and school boards from mandating masks to any person who is on the school's premises including those attending in purpose in person instruction school sponsored athletics and school-sponsored extracurricular activities and that's my report for this evening thank you osba student achievement report and sisson thank you mrs breiner um i'm going to share some of the success stories across the nation uh the first one is the mastery focus helps students learn at their own pace school officials in cleveland and columbus are focusing on mastery in summer schools and the upcoming school year to personalize learning and help bridge achievement gaps stemming from the pandemic the approach

029assumes that all students are at different place in their learning and offers them the support to progress at the pace that is best for them the second one is school seek to recover enrollment laws in fall u.s schools that experience enrollment declined during the chronovirus pandemic are looking to recover students in the fall by reaching out to families they are doing it through home visits through phone calls conducting school tours and other efforts without recovering lost enrollment district facing laws of funding according to the data every racial and ethnic group saw enrollment decline with white students showing the steepest decline and i just want to mention if any if any of the teachers are present or anybody want to share any success stories from mentor schools they can send me the email and that will

030go in the success newsletter with the osba and i know we do a lot of good things so it's if you think it's worth sharing we can be just there that covers my portion so thank you thank you chief financial officers report recommendations mr wade thank you madam president request approval of our financial statements for the month of july as well as our investments our appropriation modifications supplemental appropriations our petty cash funds our student activity purpose goals and budgets as well as the resolution for the estimate of aggregate maximum amount of public monies to be awarded to public depositories so moved second please call the roll mr tuttle yes ms bryner yes mr buckley yes miss hassan yes miss jessling yes motion carries 5-0 that concludes my portion thank you any unfinished business no any

031new business for the board next we'll have hearing of the public on agenda items or any items i walked in here with shaq to see all of you sitting there miles apart from anyone with masks on if you're sick stay home if you're not sick you don't need a mask [Music] [Applause] the problem is not that people are uneducated the problem is that they are educated just enough to believe what they've been taught and not educated enough to question what they've been taught ron paul said that substitute the word taught with the word told the problem is that they are educated just enough to believe what they've been told and not educated enough to question what they've been told the last school year was tough for everyone it was especially tough on our young children

032and teens attending or trying to attend school each day a little more was asked of students and staff change everything that you have been doing to get educated stay home don't stay home lockers no lockers in person virtual don't wear a mask wear a mask all this for children who if they get the virus have 99.998 percent chance of full recovery according to the cdc [Applause] this is according to the cdc we all looked it up did we do this for the bird flu sars regular flu h1n1 how about the swine flu did we do this for the swine flu no you know my mother always said if your friends jumped off the brooklyn bridge would you follow them y'all probably heard the same thing from your parents i guess she meant i needed to

033think for myself well i'm asking the school board to think for themselves the students have been hurt they've been hurt by the school for a full year and have not recovered from that hurt they've fallen behind in school work in school or virtue they miss seeing their friends hanging out with them they haven't been able to see the smiling face of their teachers or classmates because you covered their identity with masks [Applause] some have even committed suicide if you don't believe that look it up you know freedom over one person's physical freedom over one's physical person is the most basic freedom of all people in a free society must be sovereign over their own bodies ron paul said that too by the way thank you you're three minutes oh thank you okay maybe [Applause] thank

034you please state your name and we do have a three-minute limit per speaker thank you okay i'm peg mccracken i'm a retired teacher mostly at reynolds which a lot of you are also aware of i'm going to talk about two things tonight first of all the mentor school board has a policy manual and i want to talk about chapter 9 section 14. it talks about harassment and words and actions that create a hostile environment words that are intimidating offensive abusive threatening or unwelcome mrs breiner did you hire a company called better lesson better lesson to give an in service [Music] [Applause] mr porter did you know we did i'm sorry i'm not familiar with all of our vendors apparently anyway you're taking my time so i'm going to go ahead and go ahead i gave

035you three slides there are 66 in their program i can only stomach three the first one asks an essential question how can i be a co-conspirator while using a curriculum rooted in whiteness [Music] [Applause] so then they define a co-conspirator a person whose actions combat racism through direct challenge to or subversion of racist structures and institutions the third slide which is as much as i could stomach confronting self and they have words in there like actively doing work to tear down those beliefs beliefs and structures that are pervasive those beliefs and structures don't exist in primarily white or privileged institutions they thrive there that's part of their presentation to our teachers did you think any of that was threatening or abusive mrs breiner they're teaching our teachers to teach their children this stuff and they're

036coming here with a militant attitude to clear a problem that doesn't exist please rethink it [Applause] good evening i think we're going to go back and forth between masks and diversity all evening amanda alfie i'm a matter of parent and my my son is at shore my daughter's at orchard i want to begin by thanking you mr porter for your most recent video message in which you confirm your decision to make the masking of our children and staff optional [Applause] i appreciate your understanding of the fact that there are strong opinions obviously on this topic and that you have taken those into consideration i also assure you that i and other parents that are here this evening represent a significant contingency of your staff who feel the same way as we do but just do

037not feel comfortable expressing that publicly for fear i've [Applause] they fear for their jobs and they fear for their working conditions i guarantee you there are a significant number of those that feel the same way that we do having said this i still feel compelled to address you this evening regarding the continued concern that in the end you will require our students to be masked for another school year and i ask you this honestly do any of you know how many coveted cases there are currently in mentor as of this morning i checked the ohio department of health's website there are 36 confirmed coveted cases in the past two weeks in the mentor zip code 36 cases in the past two weeks um so there is not a surge in in this this zip code

038in this area um the media and those in power would have us believe that there is one there is not it is not true so i urge you to keep the optional masks in our schools there is no reason not to do so our children's social and emotional health is too important for for us to gloss over this this is this is not just about a virus that is not surging but it is about social emotional health of our children if this does not if this changes i will be telling my children they they have my permission to enter their school buildings without masks and i i think i think you're going to have a number of those on your hands as well so i urge you you know the the main thing that's bothered

039me about this pandemic from the very beginning is that fear has ruled the day the the media and the government and everyone has tried to make us scared of this virus and i learned growing up my father taught me growing up that making decisions based on fear is never going to yield a positive outcome so i i i continue to plead with you to make these decisions based on the facts there are 36 confirmed covet cases in mentor right now that does not warrant masking our children for another school year [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] good evening my name is annie payne and i am a mentor resident i would first like to thank you for making masks optional currently i understand that this could change in the future and short of a mandate i would

040like to address why changing optional masks to mandatory would be risky i have no doubt that all of you are concerned about our children's overall health especially when it comes to covid you see i am too however the lens in which we look at this issue is vastly different i have lost family members in the past to suicide i am greatly concerned with the mental and physical health implications of prolonged fear over time we know that chronic fear can cause serious health consequences such as changes to our physical health our memory brain processing and reactivity and our mental health it can also cause depression and anxiety since the cdc provides a lot of guidance for schools i'd like to present some imperative information from the cdc as well for the cdc during 2020 the proportion

041of mental health-related emergency department visits among adolescents aged 12 to 17 years increased 31 percent compared with that during 2019 the cdc also stated that young persons might represent a group at high risk because they might have been particularly affected by mitigation measures such as physical distancing including a lack of connectedness to schools teachers and peers barriers to mental health treatment increases in substance use and anxiety about family health and economic problems which are all risk factors for suicide only four months into the pandemic the director of the cdc robert redfield stated that there has been another cost that we've seen particularly in high schools we're seeing sadly far greater suicides now than we are deaths from covid we're seeing far greater deaths from drug overdoses that are above access that we had as background

042than we are seeing from deaths of covid the children deserve and need normalcy in our schools the district safety vision statement says together we will ensure a state a safe learning environment safety looks different to everyone for some a mask does provide some security as for others a mass causes physical and mental health consequences a mask for some is risky you see if you require masking you are contributing to the irrational fear of a virus that so infrequently affects children children have enough stressors and do not need to be constantly reminded to be afraid and scared we should be more focused on the risks associated with anxiety depression and chronic fear than the minuscule risk associated with coveting children where there is risk there must be choice i will remind you again of the oath

043that you all took when you were elected into office you swore to uphold the constitution of the united states and the constitution of ohio and as such the power of any decisions that directly affect the health of our children such as masks should rely solely on the parents shoulders and not in the board's hands thank you for your time [Applause] [Music] [Applause] hello good evening listen madam president members of the board mr wade mr porter as you know my name is amy freeman i live at 7281 tap street here in mentor my husband and i have been married for 23 years mentor is our home we've been here for 22 years this is where we are raising our family we're very devoted to the city and to the school as you all would know but

044my first i would like to thank you mr porter for your decision making masks optional that is very important to my children and to our family so sincerely i thank you for making that decision so we my main concern tonight is masking of our bus drivers and our students on buses we are in the bellflower zone so our daughter sarah class of 21 our son andrew who's 11th grader and our daughter ellen who's an 8th grader at shore we all went they all went to bell flower so my concerns regarding masking our bus drivers and our students can be summarized into three categories so the first would be safety like have we really looked at the safety of having our beloved bus drivers wearing a mask an early start school like bellflower there's a portion

045of the school year where our kids are out there in the dark and then sports plenty of sports our our bus drivers are driving our kids home at night northeast ohio weather so we all want our bus drivers to be at their best and are they really going to be at their best without debating whether or not mass work but if we could just assume for a moment that maybe masks can cause a headache maybe they can interfere with your vision off to the side maybe you could be distracted by the mask maybe a little bit of reduced oxygen put all those things together and the precious cargo that our amazing bus drivers are carrying i have we really considered the safety and and the risk my um second question then too on that would

046be enforcement like how what is the plan how are we going to enforce this are we having i mean are we going to deputize the fourth graders and fifth graders to make sure the kindergarteners are wearing their mask are we going to tell kids you need to report your peers to the office if they're not wearing their mask on the bus or are we going to lay that at the feet of our bus drivers when we're already asking them to do so much so they're going to be driving driving a bus of kids in the winter potentially at night and they're also responsible for making sure all of our kids are wearing their masks and my final point or question really is from what i understand the district has decided to follow legal guidance on

047this and i think it's truly debatable whether um that's the right decision based on ohio law and constitutional principles but i would like to know who is our law firm who is representing us who is it that made that decision uh for us that that the mass mandate um should be implemented okay great okay that's all i had again thank you for your time and thank you again for the mask optional decision president school board members my name is leah mccullough i am a parent of three students that were in the mudder district i have pulled them this week [Music] i want to start off with tim hammond thank you so much for pointing this and making this to my bringing this to my attention that the morals that my children carry with them are

048what i give them what you are teaching with better lessons is teaching hate and racism what i seen on those slides was absolutely disgusting and my children will not partake in this ridiculous agenda that's being pushed politically [Applause] to a lot of parents here has lied to me many times last year about critical race theory go to the doctors i go to the doctors with my daughter the um last year and she's reading her health history and she goes in front of the nurse goes mom what racism am i what where did you hear that in school online you know how many times i closed my kids chromebooks and ipads because i did not agree with the lessons that you were choosing to teach my children i will not partake in this and these children

049do not deserve this this is a political agenda that a lot of people are pushing and it's ridiculous and that's all i have to say i am just it is disgusting that better lesson plan you guys need to go back and look at that absolutely disgusting what those people were saying on those slides [Applause] i am a a parent of a student that goes to this this school i would like you to know that i just argued with my child for two hours because i told him he is not allowed to go to this school if you are going to indoctrinate my child we are here tonight to inform you that we know you are forcing critical race theory under the guise of inclusion diversity and equity on our children that's right yeah we know

050what c we know that it's crt and so do you [Applause] woke-ism woke-ism leads our children to believe the hate of our country the hate towards others and to hate themselves my hope is that the only people going woke in the streets of manor are my fellow americans waking up to what this school system is forcing on our children [Applause] you cross the line you know the rule don't mess with our kids we as citizens of men are we pay for everything we as american taxpayers demand that you stop the forced crt on our children's psyche and let it be known that it's child abuse we the american taxpayer must remind you you are not indoctrinators you are educators that's right we the american taxpayer stand here today because it is our duty as citizens

051of the united states of america to tell you no more [Applause] we are not going to take it any more you want to know why because we are we the people [Music] [Applause] hi my name is april flagg i actually um officially live in willoughby but my kids are their dad is inventor and so they go to the mentor schools um right now i'm just going to talk about the masks mr porter thank you for your update saying that mass right now will remain optional you make me a little bit concerned because that's what you told us last year and then at the last minute it changed but i'm also a little concerned about the hostile environment that you guys are creating for the children and i did my most recent was i was on

052facebook which has caused most of this mess and i saw a post from someone who you are close with and they are running for school board approving discrimination against children who cannot wear mass or choose not to wear a mask they said that some forms of discrimination have always been and always will be okay and it's not like they are a person of color it's not like they are gay and it's not like they are disabled this personally affects my son my son is 10 years old he um is autistic and has a sensory processing disorder we were planning on sending him back in so that he could be with his teachers and his therapist because he really really loves them and i know that he benefits well from it but he can't handle wearing

053a mask he can't handle it it um honestly you can't even wear long sleeves because it bothers him and when i pointed this out the people who were supporting this candidate and who you are you guys are close with and you're pushing for this you know diversity and equity and inclusion said that i must be lying i must be a lazy parent and i must not care and i and that my son who is disabled must be a murderer and obviously that i don't care if he goes and murders other children this is the environment that our kids are going to be in the other parents are teaching their children that if another kid no matter what even if they have a disability they can probably tolerate it and if they're not they are evil

054and they are murderers and they are all these that is that's hostile i'm sorry and i i know a little bit about being bullied and that is creating a perfect bullying situation and and i'm sorry but um a little nervous coming up here but we we decided to keep him home i can't send him to school knowing that you guys are okay with this type of thing and that this is going on in the school so my son now can't can't go and go and see his teachers he's going to have he's going to have to learn online because i don't feel that it's safe for him and he can't wear a mask but because you're pushing the crt and all of this and under inclusion it's okay to discriminate against my son who has

055a disability and can't wear a mask [Applause] i'm betsy harding and my children are entering eighth grade at shore in 10th grade at mentor high school i'm here to speak to you about the use of face masks and maintaining that they will be optional at the start of the school year mass are harming our children mentally and physically covet infection and transmission in children and adolescents is extremely low why are we still masking our children and our teachers when evidence shows that they are not spreaders of the cova virus research shows that moist mass are a breeding ground for bacteria that is antibiotic resistant and can undermine viral immunity do you believe that any student's mask would not be full of sweat spit or mucus by the end of the day rendering them useless testing

056was done on used masks which showed 11 dangerous pathogens including other viruses bacteria microbes and mold mass prevent the mirroring of facial expressions which facilitates empathetic connections and trust between students and teachers this can escalate to mental and behavioral problems without facial cures teachers without facial cues teachers and students of all ages are more likely to misinterpret one another how are children supposed to develop social skills when they can't see or read another's face anxiety and depression in children and in children has increased 63 percent since the crisis started suicide is on the rise and the use of antidepressants has increased 25 percent all of this will cause long-term effects on our children a study of the effects of carboxide from inhaled hair air within face mass showed excessive co2 in the bloodstream causing drowsiness

057lack of focus headaches dizziness and shortness of breath this study concluded that children should not be forced to wear face masks mr reporter has mentioned many times have any check with the lawyers as a public school under the state of ohio doe the city of mentor boe is granted sovereign immunity by the 11th amendment this means the district has immunity for tort claims or injury or death in addition house bill 606 signed into law 914 2020 ensure civil immunity to schools from lawsuits arising from exposure transmission or contraction of coven 19 and any mutation of the virus on the mentor boe website under 9.01 policy manual chapter 4. parental involvement and education includes the following parents and guardians are full partners in the decisions that affect children and families there are other lake county schools

058that max remain optional andrews osborne lake catholic willoughby east lake riverside and st mary's manor i also remind you that men are schools don't have most of them don't have ac they're very hot for the first and last months of the school year would any of you sit in an office for seven hours straight in extreme heat with a mask on and very little mass breaks the classrooms will be at full capacity and that much hotter i ask you to leave the masculine as is keeping it recommended but optional let our families make the decision the adverse effects masking our children are not worth risk for their long-term physical and mental health thank you [Applause] good good evening i'm here to speak on behalf of my daughter who is in eighth grade at shore middle

059school she has severe anxiety adhd combined presentation when she is masked you can't tell when she's having an anxiety attack due to her biting her lips the inside of her cheeks and she does not speak up instead she shuts down [Music] how how are we going to fix that for these kids if you guys make them wear masks she is also soft spoken she is very you can't hear her when she talks especially when she's wearing the mask i see many of her teachers here today and i'm sure that they can also say yes she is hard to hear making our children hide behind the mask is damaging to their mental health my child also has asthma and the masks make it harder for her to breathe and on top of that if she's having

060an anxiety attack it's hard for her to get the mask off because then it causes an asthma attack and then you know it's even harder to get her inhaler and get the mask off now this year alone we had a big setback because of the mask and my child at one point was afraid to go to school because she had to wear the mask it got to the point where i had to call into the school and have somebody help me get her out of my car we need to keep the mask as optional i understand that some of you are wanting the mask and there's a lot of us that don't want it please leave it to the parents to choose thank you hi my name is christy nazario a mother of a kindergartner

061and going to be second grader mentor school system and uh clearly see i'm a minority here today but that's okay my concern is uh about the parent choice and mass i'm having a hard time understanding why we're proposing to start the school year with less mitigation strategies in place when this variant that's now circulating is two to three times more transmissible than last year's variant um children may not die from covib long covered can lead to assembling disabling effects like heart brain and lung damage i live every day in chronic pain that's the last thing that i want for any of our children to have uh you know long-term oxygen use um you know and this is happening in kids who are even mildly symptomatic or not some to mag at all um sixteen hundred

062kids were hospitalized this week alone up twenty one percent from the week prior you can look at arizona you can look at florida in fact arizona schools in phoenix opened up without any mass mandate parent choice and within a i think it was less than two weeks they had to have an emergency board meeting and put the mass mandate back in place because the numbers were surging now my son uh started kindergarten when all this was beginning the pandemic and he says only had in-person school for seven months out of his seven years um he had to go on counseling because he was so overwhelmed unable to focus i mean in person school the teachers were um pardon me online school the teachers were great um but you know he he just really needs to

063be in the building i have lupus as i mentioned um he's thrilled to finally be going back to school but i cannot fathom a blow that another online program would be to him what long-term impact that would have on his attitude towards learning um i just want to encourage you guys since the pants started pandemic mudder school has always followed the cdc recommendations and i respectfully urge you to continue to follow the science um if we're if i'm wrong the worst thing that my the kids have done is they had a mask on if everyone else is wrong uh your child could die or have lifelong issues [Applause] [Music] if you want to talk get in line like everybody else has okay thank you [Applause] my son deserves a safe place to go to school

064and not have to worry about getting coveted we should be putting every mitigation strategy in place that we possibly can to protect these kids stay home and that is all i have to say thank you he seems nice [Music] [Applause] is [Music] are we done okay thank you sorry about that that's all right my name is lauren martaza i grew up here in mentor i came back to mentor to raise my kids here with my husband i have a first grader at hopkins and a new middle schooler about to start at memorial um i'm here today actually to talk about masks obviously but i cannot um leave this podium without addressing uh what you all are calling critical race theory i'll speak louder is this better great so critical race theory is an understanding that

065who we are the laws that we have in place the histories that have been handed down to us have been shaped by race regardless of what color you are it has been shaped by race [Music] it is taught in law schools and graduate schools in our public schools however where it's not taught by the way it is not it is my turn to speak okay my turn to speak i am speaking in our public schools our kids deserve age appropriate and accurate history lessons helping them become the critical thinking thinkers that we need them to be that we need them to be to make this a more just and prosperous and equitable country now masks doctors are increasingly concerned that the covid delta variant has having an a negative impact on our children maybe not

066yet here in mentor maybe not yet but it's coming the number of kids hospitalized with the virus has been rising over the past few weeks that's what the facts say that's what the facts say this now includes my nine-year-old niece is that enough for you because it's enough for me quiet there is no telling which children will simply recover there is no telling which children will suffer complications there is no telling which children however few they may be will succumb to the illness i and as the delta variant surges even though it's not here yet it does infect more children than previous variants and i think i think of owen caswell does that sound familiar it should owen caswell was a student in my son's class last year and i watched as he was hospitalized

067as his mother appeared on the news and tears worried that she would lose him that she would lose have you ever had a hospitalized child before i have i have and it is heartbreaking and traumatic for everyone and i will not risk that again [Applause] thank you to the board by the way it's a hard job and i appreciate it [Applause] [Music] good evening i'm linda o'brien i'm a grandmother who moved to mentor a year ago to be close to my grandchildren i see this issue as much broader it's an issue of control and division [Applause] i have 18 years of education and in 18 years i cannot help a fourth grader with math why is that the system that served einstein to to euclid worked fine for for thousands of years and we had

068to come up with a system that no parent learned when they were in college or in undergraduate school why because it divides us from our children now [Applause] relative to critical race theory my grandparents came here in the turn of the century from slovakia they never called themselves slovakian americans they were proud to be americans they never spoke their language outside of the household because they wanted to be americans and we're teaching our children to be everything but americans and that's wrong my creator gave me white skin i didn't have a choice about that but that doesn't make me an evil person and slavery has been on this world on this earth from the beginning of time and it hasn't just been blacks who were enslaved there were whites and irish and all colors and

069they were enslaved by their own people so it's not a matter of white people being evil now having said that my birth certificate says that i'm white all right i have a granddaughter in your school system whose birth certificate says she is black and let me tell you she is not african-american she is american [Applause] a year ago she turned them in she said grammy am i black she never realized because her skin color doesn't define her it's not our skin it's not our nationality it's not our religion it's not our education it's our hearts it's our values it's our virtues it was said many times from george washington to tocqueville and to reagan into lincoln there's three things that are two things are required it is faith and virtue that we must have as

070americans so that we remain free please a people keep those two in your households and in our schools do not distract us from our faith and our virtues god bless america [Applause] thank you boyd for being here and listening i hope you're taking this seriously and i hope you're taking notes because we are mad we are mad we are mad i like to start off with uh two quotes from dr martin luther king jr we're probably all familiar with them but it's good to revisit these i look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character we need to live that in our schools [Applause] [Music] a second quote i have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and

071live out the true meaning of its creed we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal you and crt are trying to go backwards you're trying to create inequality between the races and the genders you're trying you're going backwards and not forward in this community crt is a marxist ideology i think you know that it's a it's a marxist ideology you know that it makes race the prism through which every one of his proponents analyze everything they do in life and that's not right crt states that all white people contribute to racism are aggressively hostile to other races and are haters and white supremacists and that america is systematically racist that's what crt teaches that's what you're teaching our kids you know it is also committed to dismantling every aspect of

072society through unrelenting criticism that's their stated goal this is what you are advocating for our children and for our kids and for our community if you do this we will vote you out of office and we will put in people who are sane and responsible crt is teaching our kids to be racist terrorists race terrorists that's what it's teaching them crt teaches people to hate themselves based on the color of their skin and that's what you've instituted in our school system curriculum should be about science math reading technology and you've made it into social engineering and brainwashing it's just unbelievable you have betrayed the faith and trust these parents and this community have put in you and you will be removed if you do not remove crt blm gender identity ideology ideology and other socialist

073garbage that you have in our schools right now with all due respect you may have many degrees several degrees or advanced degrees on this board but if you believe that this will do anything but harm to our children you are woefully ignorant thank you [Applause] hi my name is sonya marczyk i have three children two all go have gone to mentor two graduated before covid and i have a child who's technically a first grader we actually had to go through k-12 last year so my topic's very different than most this room to a degree because you guys focused a lot of your inclusion issues on race instead of what inclusion involves which includes children with special needs you did not implement a proper program whether it be in school or out of school for children

074with severe special needs or rare conditions and my daughter cannot wear a mask medically or physically cannot handle wearing a mask for an entire school day so right there that eliminates her aside from the fact that it's out of your hands we do have everything that happened last year with covid so with her medical that limits her so being at home through your district or k-12 was our choices or choosing a alternative home school we chose k-12 because just like everybody else last year everybody had figured it out on a whim i find that you guys weren't able to accommodate children with special needs more accordingly sitting any student any one of these parents to have their kids sitting on a device as if they're in a regular school day is absolutely ridiculous let alone

075a child with special needs who that's a huge thing to ask them to do she is would have been in kindergarten last year technically first grade this year and this kind of learning is incredibly difficult for especially children with special needs and i really think you need to take and stop focusing your inclusion just on your crt and race matters but you need to remember the definition of inclusion and that's not just one race that is including multiple races that's including those with special needs and find a more appropriate way to educate our students i would love someone to help answer those questions as to what you can do differently so that i can give her the options of that education [Applause] hello my name is barbara kilfoil i have emailed all of you as

076well as emailed my senator and emailed aclu in complaint of your recent august 3rd non-requirement to wear masks as a 1990 graduate of mentor high school i was given the education to go beyond to get a scholarship at case to become a nurse to then get my master's in health care administration and become a hospital administrator i became a director of critical care i do not want to see anybody in this room get this covet i have had the patience i have cared for the patients in home healthcare i've had to move them to hospice you do not want this and i do not want this for my children [Applause] i have a child who is nine years old and who is not eligible for the vaccination i have a 12 year old who is

077eligible and received his vaccination and that was my choice it is not my daughter's choice there is no choice for the 12 and under crew there is nothing except for what we already applied we already applied all these great layered measures to an unvaccinated population for the 2020-2021 school year and as you've said in multiple of your video updates is it did stop the transmission of the virus within school and you don't want the transmission of the virus within the school you don't want it because if you get it then you're liable for it the school is liable for it especially if you remove the mandates as a nurse i do not want this on people but i would treat them the same that is one thing that my education both here at manor schools

078taught me was to treat everybody with humanity and that was one thing that followed me through my nursing school and it and it taught me coast to coast as a travel nurse to take care of people regardless of their color of their skin their religious backgrounds and that is the foundation that was given to me through the minor public schools i really hope you rethink this decision not to require the mass mandate it stops the respiratory droplets it does not affect your co2 or your o2 levels those are gases we learned about gases back in chemistry it stops the droplets that is a foundation of medical practice and why your surgeon wears a mask you don't want your doctors wearing masks when you're under oh well then this is just totally they're not believing in

079science so i hope you believe in science the way i believe in science and i thank you [Applause] hi my name is deb francis miller i did not plan on doing this today or any day i have to ask your forgiveness be first because every mask i see in this room freaks me out totally freaks me out my brother died he didn't have to die he died with my mother watching him through a window in a nursing home she wouldn't even open up the window those good nurses this much we watched him in feces and urine yeah exactly he had to die then two months later or three months my husband sister died the same way she was terrified to go to the hospital be separated from her grandchildren so she did not go and

080she died of a lung embolism i'm surprised they didn't call those both kobit my brother ended up dying because he stopped eating he was so depressed and those are eight people in my life in the last year that have died but not from the china flu and i don't care what you call it they didn't die from that they died from isolation masking abuse getting kicked out of drugstores grocery stores what is going on anybody who has says they're a christian i mean i don't want to bring yes i do i want to bring god because if god it wasn't in if god was still in the school system we wouldn't be here the kids would be basic reading writing and math [Music] yes love does not keep a record of wrongs so and other

081things but i see you guys in these masks and i think you're all killers you killed eight people that i know and i had to bump this with a priest no hugs no friends lockdowns and you guys are all fine thinking you're altruistic calling me a killer because i didn't wear a mask i can't wear a mask i have a medical exemption no one accepted it do you guys really think we think you care about our children no we do not because if you did you'd take the damn ass off [Applause] my name is diane popolis i do not have any children in the school my son is 32 he went through the mentor system and i am 67 and i look around and i'm pretty much a lot older than a lot of people

082in here i've had 25 years experience in the schools to which i'm currently still working at a school pretty much everything i wanted to say about crt and masks have already been said i just want to conclude my speaking with when my son came here he was prepared for every orchard short manner he did so well that mennor had given him a partial academic scholarship to ohio state so we're talking back in 2008 we had a great school system here my son was the only one in my family that never went to catholic school and he shined with every up against anybody else i teach psr at my parish and when these fourth graders were telling me what they were being taught in the schools i thought wait when i sent my kid to school

083i sent him for eight hours with the to trusting our educators that they were going to teach him the right thing and now you have dictated and lost the trust of parents by sneaking this program into these kids and after 25 years of the school being in schools i have never been more disgusted ashamed and embarrassed of a school board for doing what you have done to our kids i have a seven-year-old granddaughter fortunately she is in a catholic school but i don't know where she's going to be in three years and this has to stop now this teaching it has to stop now it cannot continue because our country is already screwed up we all know that and i mean these masks i mean it's absolutely ridiculous so it has to stop now [Applause]

084hi my name is cindy i have two children in the men are public schools and i myself as well as my husband are men are high school graduates and first i want to say that cloth masks are proven to not protect you it's n95 mask so unless you are going to provide n95 masks for every student the masks are useless [Applause] so i want to go with how the cdc is recommending masks the cdc also recommends that every child receives their childhood immunizations correct do you know that in the mentor schools or in the state of ohio that no child has to have any vaccination to attend public school so we are allowed to sign an exemption that our children don't need a vaccination on a recommendation from the cdc but they have to wear

085you're potentially going to tell them that they have to wear a mask based on a recommendation and then the cdc also has nutrition guidelines that are recommendations for pediatrics and children and in those it's to limit sugars and fatty foods but on your menus you have things like super nachos and pizza and you hand out sugary cereal bars so you're not going based on recommendations for those things so why do we have to go based on recommendations for masks i will tell you my children did poorly in the portions of school where they had to do virtual so virtual is not an option for us and my husband and i both work full-time so we can't do that i had a kindergartner last year and a first-time middle schooler it was terrible constantly hearing my

086kindergartners teacher tell me to get your grown-up ask your grown-up well her grown-up was working so we can't do virtual and my child missed seven days of school last year because simply put she said i can't breathe i won't wear the mask and i couldn't force her to go then i got a letter from the school saying how important it was to send my child to school and she missed too many days there was also an incident with my kindergartner where she wet herself at the playground during the first few months of school my child who was potty trained since two never peter pants and when the school nurse called me i was almost confused when she said my child had an accident she told me that she was seeing more incidents of young children

087wetting their pants that year at the beginning of the school year and when i asked my daughter when she came home why why she didn't say something especially since she'd never had an accident before she said i tried to speak up but they didn't hear me [Applause] i will tell you the emotional and the the the developmental things that have gone on with my children this year is they're they're being falling back and missing assignments that they would have never missed had they been in school the whole time but also my son his biggest thing about him is every one of his teachers throughout his entire life he's 12 throughout his entire school year your son's smile is amazing your son is so happy and vibrant i can't wait to see his smiling face every

088day i didn't hear it one single time last year not once not one time nobody knows what my kid's face looks like in that middle school [Applause] hi my name is sandy richards i'm not good at public speaking but i feel it's important that parents speak out first of all mr porter thank you very much you've done an excellent job in my family's opinion on keeping parents informed and your decision making up until this point thank you for making masks optional going into this year i really hope that you keep it that way i'm i have a first grader an eighth grader and a ninth grader and i'm very close to my children i'm home a lot with them i'm very close to them and the past year i have watched all three of them

089struggle socially academically and mentally so by giving us the option to let them take their masks off you're going to help my children thrive and i don't speak for other people and i don't speak for other families but i know there are hundreds of other families in my shoes where masks are hurting them mentally and there are there i would not want to be in your shoes because i know it's a very heated debate and there are great points that nurse a great point i would never want to see anybody in the hospital be a nurse you're in a tough situation i fully respect everything that you said but i'm on the other side of it and and by letting us make the decision you're accepting both sides and i feel that that's the best

090way to go so thank you ever you've been amazing i i praise everything that you've done up until this point it's fantastic thank you all parents for coming please keep them optional please don't forget our kids mental health to me that is just as important as physical health evening it's good to be back here again i would like to ask you since you're all educators do any of you know the american view of government can anyone here tell me what the american view of government is from our founding fathers it says that god gives us god exists number one so if you teach our kids anything that god exists you're going against the constitution and breaking your oaths all of our rights don't come from anybody but god himself he gives them to us and

091they're inalienable and immutable that means they can't be changed and you can't be taken away even little bit by little bit okay and the governments are only created your job is to make sure our kids are assured of understanding that what i just told you and also understanding that they get and you secure their god-given rights that's your job in your schooling i'm going to give you a quote here by john adams rights and are antecedent to all earthly government rights cannot be repealed or restrained by human laws rights are derived from the great legislator of the universe thomas jefferson on the other side of the extreme during that day thomas jefferson said government is to declare and enforce only our natural rights and duties and take none of them from us okay george washington

092a free people ought to be armed for free people ought to be armed these days i guarantee you should all go out and buy a gun really go buy a gun you need it right now george washington also said a free people out to be army said no man should scruple or hesitate a moment to use arms in defense you're hurting children you're being abusive and if you think that that legal notice that i gave you last time it didn't get recorded by your city council your city attorney but i assure you it's been recorded for violating the nuremberg war crimes code the geneva convention code the u.n charter the international criminal court laws the u.s constitution and the declaration of geneva all of which they have been recorded at okay so not here by

093your council but they have been i assure you and we're going to take everything you own if i hear anything but mass or no good now can i can i kindly allow you to ask one other thing do you know what the dirtiest dirtiest part of your body is your mouth so you can take your underwear off and let us see your face you're making our kids stick their face in their underwear for seven hours a day how imbecilic are you should be ashamed of yourself that is abuse hi i forgot to tell you my name it's michelle pokelsick i previously worked at as an administrative assistant at an alternative school junior high high school you know some of you may or may not remember me but i've been in the school district i lived

094in menard for 20 years and men are on the lake for 15. so i've been around the school district for quite some time now many of you may not remember or were not around in the 90s when i had children in the school district but we had a problem with our school board we finally asked all our school board members to resign [Applause] most of them did [Applause] it was at the end of the 90s look it up you're allowed to speak more than once this is about something else um so we asked them to resign most of them did we had one hold out and eventually she resigned we got a whole new school board that was going to listen to the people that got them where they are we voted some of you

095in some of you are here because you're on the superintendent or assistant superintendent or whatever but the ones that we voted in need to listen we are angry do you have any any idea why we're so angry because you change your mind and do it at the last minute because you change things on our children we need continuity we need to know what the hell is going on we are angry and if you don't get anything else out of this meeting get that the parents want the say for their children about masks about crt about values about what the heck you're teaching that's what parents want either do it or or or leave resign give up whatever but don't run again if you're not going to listen to us hi it's me again um i

096just wanted to talk on a second subject which i believe i'm allowed to do am i correct i'm asking i'm allowed to talk on a second subject okay so um number oh it's the crt uh mr buckley um i i'm a little confused and before i continue do you have a son named jim too jim no no you don't okay well um there was there there was an incident and he was one of the um the biggest bullies that i had like in in school like when i went to school i didn't have very very many friends and um i know what it's like to be bullied and um you're sitting up here especially miss mary you commented on willoughby parents about how you had an issue with willowby parents a couple of months ago

097because they were not requiring masks anymore i'm just a little curious on how you can sit here and say that you're all for diversity when will be parents are more diverse than you um more diverse than men are which according to mr porter when i spoke to him he was very concerned because mentor is primarily white it seemed to be an issue with him but i don't understand if men are so primarily white and that's an issue and you want more diversity and inclusion why are you sitting here being critical of of a place where we get along better like we do this this isn't an issue i got out of the pool almost every day we see people of all different colors and creeds and we all get along just great and fine so

098i number one i don't know where the issue is because we're all we all get along we like each other and if you think that you're going to lead the way to make sure that other people are accepting and everything then maybe you should show that in the way that you actually address us i mean we walk in here and you treat certain parents like you know like they're less than because they're not going by what you what you want and i mean i'm i'm with her i think that you all should resign i think you should you guys are very politically driven you don't listen to us mr porter lied directly to our face telling us that he was not there was no plans to teach crt and within a week we learned that

099the teachers were already taking the training and that it was that that was definitely the direction that they were going and then when i was talking directly to you on the phone about the situation where my son is in and i'm not even going to bring it up in this room you seem concerned like that was a real problem and that you weren't okay with it and you continued to lie to me personally saying that it was something that they would that it was never gonna happen they weren't gonna do crt because it was too divisive and it was too too much and i got an email later that day showing me slides of crt that you were teaching the kids you lied to us and you should resign [Applause] i'm going to speak again

100on the crt just because i'd like to know what you're going to do and present to children um who have multi-racial homes because i do i have a son from a previous relationship who is in without whatever he's he's white okay and then my husband is half black and we have a biracial daughter together how is that going to be presented as far as the crt how are my two kids going to learn something but have a different view presented to them how is one child going to feel like the oppressor and one child going to feel like the victim in this and they're in my same household they're going to come home in my same household and have different views presented to them because one is partially black and one is white and i

101speak on behalf of my my best friend also has has biracial children and she's in the same predicament not able to be here today but how are we going to treat that in our households how am i going to explain that in my household and how how am i going to explain mom versus dad did you can i actually you know what did you guys watch the slideshow because i saw it did any of you watch it or was it just the teachers did any of you watch the slideshow that was presented for the teachers i saw parts of the slideshow but you didn't see the whole thing i did not see the whole thing so your teachers are required to watch it but as the superintendent you did not see the whole thing have

102any of you reviewed those and say you didn't see it and you and you're gonna teach our kids wait have any of you else looked at it you've watched it [Applause] do you do you have an outward opinion on it or are you just in agreeance with it this is brain or i would like to speak if i'm not interrupted please if you're fighting i'm good i'm going to sit down we have no i stand by we don't have a plan to recommend adopt or teach critical race theory to our students we are teaching the state standards which at times includes a student should view topics from multiple perspectives we will not teach that any race or culture superior or inferior to another we are not [Music] school board and we know it's d-e-i with

103the better lessons it's not crt it could be lmnop okay it's the same thing and you know it is [Music] think about it there are teachers who are not real anxious to take this on and in all honesty you should excuse yourself because you're the worst of all of them [Music] at least own it if he i mean seriously mr towns supports crt stands on it and says it like absolutely i can at least respect that you are hiding behind the veil of this no it's not what we're calling this child we're calling your am i good to go so good evening um thank you all um parents uh students that are still in a room uh board members um treasure superintendent um i wanna commend you first of all uh for your composure this

104is a very hostile environment i i do ask that while i'm speaking that you don't speak because i think the the setup was for those who are speaking to get in line to come to the mic and speak so respectfully i do ask that you i got two minutes and 22 seconds i have two minutes and 20 19 seconds so i ask that you just wait i can stay here after the meeting if you would like to talk to me personally for anything that i'm going to stay um so again i do thank you parents and students i thank you teachers staff they're still right thank you as well it is very important that we continue to speak our values our beliefs our positions um wherever they come from i think it is very let

105me let me stop um please please i ask that you please wherever your values come from whatever your beliefs are continue to speak them uh this is again it's a very volatile space um a lot of things we're not going to always agree but as a part of the united states of america we have to stay together better together so i want to clarify um i want to clarify a couple of things uh as as one who's a part of a couple of initiatives one and i really appreciate uh superintendent subaru senator and porter saying what is taught is the ohio state standards period if it's not ohio state standards it's not getting taught the kids what we're talking about or what i hear about better lesson what's the percent what's presented to educators not

106students so just when you talk about it let's be precise and i did say it's a opportunity to open the minds and expl and present information to teachers it was not a mandate for that to translate into the classroom it was not teaching students so i think that is a misconception that has been spread rampantly in this space i just want to clarify just a little bit the other thing i would like to clarify is that i think it's it's really important um board members um that we create spaces for this type of conversation not at the board meeting i don't know if there's an opportunity outside of this where we can get together and talk about because i wonder one of the concerns i hear from companies about being involved not making decisions for

107us but with us and creating opportunities outside this space to do do that very thing so if that opportunity came from an end i think that would be a great thank you [Applause] i promise i won't speak very long but between my husband and i we have 64 years in special education we are teachers and i think the parents a lot of these parents you we've done levies we've worked your levies we voted for mentor we've moved to mentor the autistic community the special ed community you are not even addressing several parents got up here brave moms who spoke what they have to go through it's hard enough being a single mom let alone no income and you have children who can't go to school be taught because they can't wear a mask you guys

108say you care but we're not seeing it we're seeing just the opposite from you you're oh we love our special ed community oh we have cheerleaders oh we do this really there's more it's a spectrum and there are people over here you have totally discriminated against and neglected those children [Applause] that's it i wasn't able to okay if we're finished with the public speaking we're going to wrap up our meeting for now nothing at this time i'm sorry we are we keep getting interrupted i have not had a chance to talk without getting interrupted did you want to speak yes go ahead hi board members and uh thank you annie payne for stepping up and running for school board and diane popolos my name is anna parrik i live on manor road the sars covid

109or the sars coronavirus 2 has not been isolated the cdc has said so this much the cdc last sunday two sundays ago acknowledged that the pcr test cannot test for sars coronavirus ii the pcr test cannot distinguish per the cdc between sars and influenza so while we're testing kids across ohio and here in mentor what test will we be using if the pcr test cannot test for coronavirus or sars coronavirus 2 how do you determine whether or not a student or a teacher has said virus we also know that the pcr test can be manipulated depending on the revolutions that a test undergoes increases the probability of testing positive so if the test is run at 17 revolutions the subject test most likely will not test positive but if you cycle the test at 40

110revolutions you're more likely to come out with a positive so what are you using here in mentor could you talk with the lake county health department and get back to us on how many are are we going to continue to use the pcr test on teachers faculty and and students on a test that the cdc itself said cannot differentiate between the flu and sars additionally this the pcr test is being phased out as of december 1st to 2021 so in four months this test is is history and your this school district or whatever labs you're using will be required by cdc guidelines to use a different test so i'm so could you all look into that and let us know how are you determining whether or not someone is covered positive or not even okay

111so um and then i just wanted to say like you're all wearing face masks and it's very difficult to to know who is even speaking i mean this last go-around with the crt where it got kind of hot a bit volatile in here i was sitting back there and i could not i could not i could not determine who was speaking and was it was it was it you sir okay so i'm a 40 year old and i can only imagine what a 12 year old or a 15 year old that might have you know is sitting in a classroom with 30 students and his teacher is muzzled i'm sorry wearing a face mask i mean how are students going to learn when they can't see the teacher's mouth moving you you how does a

112child receive affirmation with a smile great job jimmy great job like you you see the smile how do we how do we affirm our kids and have enthusiastic enthusiastic teachers when we can't even smile i mean it's the most basic human form of communication you're elected on a local on a local level you're you're you're to use your logic your reasoning your independent research to come up with what is best for out this school district so i would say the cdc has been wrong on so many things the delta variant that we're hearing about cannot be isolated either but we're hearing that there was an outbreak in massachusetts and the 74 percent of the individuals that have this had this variant were vaccinated were vaccinated so the cdc has recommended that individuals get vaccinated yet

113we're seeing that the individuals that are vaccinated are the ones that are now uh the breakthrough cases with the delta variant so i would be very skeptical about taking the cdc's advice on anything because they've been wrong all along thank you okay thank you and i you know like again if you could talk with um the lake county health department and let us know what tests and what what rpms or revolutions are you know being used and maybe we should consider maybe using clinical evaluations given these tests cannot differentiate between the flu or sars thank you anyone else before we wrap up [Applause] all right we'll take a motion to move into executive session to discuss employee negotiations so moved second please call the roll mr buckley yes mrs sun yes miss dressling yes mr

114tuttle yes miss breiner yes we don't expect to do any voting this evening so you can stay or you may leave thank you